DVD Review of Choke

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Chokearrives on DVD on Tuesday, February 17. Though the movie is from writer Chuck Palahnuik, who is best known for Fight Club, this movie isn’t anything that classic, and as such, fans may be disappointed. Nevertheless, for what it is, it works, offering some entertaining dark comedy about sex addicts and a delusional mother.

You can read my full Choke movie review here. As decent as the movie is, the DVD is nothing to scream about. While at first glance there are a lot of special features, most were made to make it look like the DVD is worth buying. Aside from some deleted scenes and one short featurette on the film’s casting, most of the bonus features are a complete waste of time.

Here is a review of the bonus features included on the Choke DVD:

Deleted Scenes
Several good deleted scenes are included on the disc, with optional commentary by director Clark Gregg. Sam Rockwell is around in the background but doesn’t provide much input other than a few snarky conversations. In fact, the commentary is pretty disappointing, as neither man has much to say about the scenes other than that they were deleted for good reason.

Commentary with Clark Gregg and Sam Rockwell
Judging from the commentary for the deleted scenes, this can’t be all that good.

Gag Reel
Self-explanatory, though sadly there’s not much here. It shows a few chuckles or slips by the actors, but nothing very special whatsoever. I wouldn’t even bother watching these.

A Conversation with Clark Gregg and Chuck Palahniuk
I’ve seen a lot of features like this recently on other DVDs, and the trend is not good. Gregg interviews Palahniuk and they basically sit around complimenting each other, which is the general direction that most of these self-interview pieces go. Have a third person interview the both of them so there’s some direction and point to the featurette. As is, the two meander around jerking each other off, with only a few useful moments emerging.

Hello, My Name is Victor. I Am a Sex Addict – The Making of Choke
This 15-minute featurette includes some interviews with the cast, but primarily is a lot of snippets from the movie itself. As such, the featurette comes off as very promotional and unnecessary. Very disappointing.

A Mother’s Love
A featurette that looks at Anjelica Huston’s character and her significance in the picture. There are some neat insights here, but it doesn’t provide much information on the movie itself.

From the Los Angeles Film Festival
Short, amusing snippets from audience interaction with Palahniuk and Gregg at the LA Film Festival. There are a few funny moments, but the feature only lasts for a minute or two and is more filler than anything else.

Fox Movie Channel presents Casting Session
The best featurette on the DVD, this explores the difficulty of casting for a dark comedy such as this. The reasons for hiring the cast that was hired are explored, and as such this feels like the one useful bit found among two pages of special features.

Trailers
Movie trailers are included for five or six movies.

Choke is fairly entertaining, but given the lack of quality bonus features, the movie makes for a good rental and nothing more.